Dana Vento

Travel. Eat. DIY. Lavishly Living Life Out Loud

Best Italian Lemon Drop Cookies

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Every year during the holidays I replicate recipes that have been handed down generation to generation.

If you are at all familiar with the old ‘Italians’ you know that getting them to hand over a recipe often is like pulling teeth or getting water out of a stone!

I changed all that when I got my hands on this recipe because when a recipe is this good and easy it just has to be shared. 

My Nonna Santa (yes that was her name, SANTA) gave me the recipe.

A no-frills recipe that delivers big on taste, presents so colorfully and additionally can be changed up with a replacement of ingredients.

There’s a lot of room for exploration and discovery in this recipe.

Dawn an apron, grab your bakeware and let’s bake.

Here’s our Christmas Cookie Baking Tradition, so you too can lavishly live cookies out loud!

Best Italian Lemon Drop Cookies 

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Today as you read the article, please note that some of the highlighted links may be affiliate links.

If you click on the links and then make a purchase from the website, I may receive some type of compensation. 

Please understand that I’ve put these links in to guide you directly to the product, to save you time searching. 

What I remember most about the best Italian Lemon Drop Cookies with icing is that they were always in a glass dish and so tasty.

The most round circle part of this story is that when I married my husband, his mom also cooked these Italian Lemon Drop Cookies with icing.

Tradition is as tradition does and this is our family recipe.

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Before I can share our Baking Tradition, I have to share a secret. No cookie turns out well unless you have the tools of the trade.

With that in mind, here’s what I use and where I got them. Excellent tools yield great results.

Every bite tastes delectable from cookie batter to icing. Don’t lick your screen!

Ingredients and Tools to Create the Best Italian Lemon Drop Cookies

Make sure you have nonstick cookie sheets. I prefer Sur La Table for these particular cookies. 

I actually have Calphalon and some others but Sur La Table delivers the best bottoms on this cookie for some reason! 

Baking is fun when I am baking, but cleanup is not at all my fave thing. Parchment paper makes it all better! 

Once I put down parchment paper, I know cleanup will be a snap. When I’m done baking, I toss it out! 

I did not use parchment for this photo shoot as I wanted to really show you how the pans were truly nonstick! 

But, after every other batch, you can bet I did! 

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There are other things I always have on hand to make this whole process go smoothly.  For instance Lemon Extract. 

I do bake often and I always replenish my Lemon Extract. It’s a very popular item for me.

This particular recipe really needs Lemon Extract as it boosts the flavor.  Make sure to have it on hand before attempting or your results may vary! 

Further, I use PURE VANILLA. I’ve never ever swayed from that. I love the flavor it adds. Pure and Clean. 

Last, a Lemon Zester. In fact, I use this in my kitchen a lot. You will love this tool for zesting lemons, its pro! 

Best Italian Lemon Drop Cookies – Let’s Go! 

I doubled the recipe you can make less by cutting the ingredients in half! 

What I love the most is the colorfulness of the end product.

After all, what party would these not look good at?  Also, these are not hard to make at all.

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Yet, they look like you took a long time to prepare! Baker heaven! 

These are my most favorite and coveted recipes, yet I don’t mind sharing the wealth.

Your family will beg you for these long after they have disappeared! Can you keep up with the supply and demand?

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1 C of Sugar

1 C of Butter 

6 Eggs

4 C of Flour

3 Tsp Baking Powder

3 Tsp of Lemon Extract

1 Tsp of Real Vanilla 

4 Tbsp Milk 

1 Lemon, Washed & Rind Shredded (zested) 

METHOD 

Preheat Oven to 375° (bake about 10 minutes each until bottoms brown lightly)

Place butter, sugar, milk, and eggs in the bowl. 

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Mix and then add in vanilla, and lemon and continue to stir. 

Add lemon rind zest, baking powder and stir. 

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Slowly add in flour, cup by cup, making sure to get it all stirred on in. 

The dough is very easy to work with and flawlessly provides! Do not let it sit after you make it.

Keep on reading the instructions continue. 

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Clean sides of the bowl, scoop all towards the center.

The dough is spongy-like. Truth be told it’s my favorite dough to work with. 

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Use your spatula and a regular tablespoon (silverware) and spoon to a tray.

Repeat until the tray is filled and spaced properly 

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Bake for 10 minutes until bottoms brown lightly.

Do not let this burn they will taste awful if you do.

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Allow to cool for a few hours and then you will ice them with my Italian Icing.

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Grab my simple icing recipe. 

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All you will be doing is spreading icing with measuring cups and adding on those nonpareils (see how many you get on your floor, lol!)

This is the easy part. I do suggest lining the trays with parchment paper so cleanup is easier, but you can do as you choose.

Also, fingers come in handy for tasting the runoff icing! Truly it is sweet but not too sweet.

Gratifying yet not too intense. You will see and the crunch of the nonpareil makes it best!

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Sprinkle while the icing is wet, you need these to stick and not roll-off.

I very much suggest getting as close to the cookie as you can when you add the sprinkles. 

Remember they stain (yes I learned that years ago and always forget the mess!) 

I have seen these in many colors, and you, of course, could use traditional sprinkles or crystallized colors of sugar, all your personal preference.

Print The Recipe 

Don’t leave without the recipe, print it here or bookmark this page! 

Enjoy, with a cup of coffee ~ XO Dana

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tammy says

    I made these as per instructions. I didn’t coat them with icing yet but the cookie itself is quite dry.
    Does the butter & sugar need to be creamed first?

    Reply

    • Dana Vento says

      TAMMY
      SO sorry for the late reply. How did the cookie look dry? The dough is moist, the cookie is dryer. The recipe always combines all together, with no special mixing. I just made a batch, this time I did bars. It turns out perfect and it looks like SPONGe when mixed and comes to a dryer cookie. The Icing then seeps in, it’s awesome. Let me know what your ended like. DANA
      Dana Vento recently posted..Air Fryer Snowmen with Brown Sugar Cinnamon FillingMy Profile

      Reply

  5. han says

    These look amazing! I’ve been looking for a new recipe to bring to Christmas dinner this year and I think i’ve found it! So simple yet so effective

    Reply

  8. Vikki Holness says

    I am absolutely rubbish at baking so try to avoid it at all costs, but these Lemon Drop Cookies look so good i may just have to make an exception and dust off the apron. Love that your Nonna’s name was Santa, that is so cool! xx

    Reply

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